Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife, both extremely poor. The wife went around visiting people, hired herself out for daily work, and they both lived completely from hand to mouth. They even had nothing to feed their only son.
One day my wife said: “Oh, hubby, we can’t escape poverty and need!” If you could go to other cities, maybe you could earn something for a living.
The husband got ready and went to look for work. He hired himself out to guard an apple orchard in a rich village. He built himself a tiny hut and settled there. Some stray cat took root in his hut, and he spent the whole summer with her; there was no one else to even say a word to. In the fall, the owners of the orchard paid him with apples.
One merchant, his fellow villager, once passed by this village. The poor man bowed to him and said: “I earned a bag of apples, and I also got a cat, that’s all my property.” Give all this to my wife. “Okay,” says the merchant. - I'll pass it on. But first I’ll sell my goods in foreign lands.
The merchant arrived in foreign lands, and there was plenty of everything, and only apples would never be born. The local residents asked him to sell them apples. The merchant at first refused, but then agreed. He earned a lot of gold money from the apples he sold and set off on his journey. He reached another country. He brought his goods for sale to the royal palace. And there he saw that whole herds of mice were running around the palace, and there was no escape from them.
“What will you give me,” the merchant says to the king, “if I deliver you from these vile creatures?” “I’ll give you a bag of gold,” says the king. Then the merchant let the hungry cat out of the bag, and she quickly strangled all the mice. The king and the merchant paid, and the merchant set off on the return journey. He gave the poor man’s wife a bunch of gold and said: “Your husband sent you this.” “Didn’t he tell me what to do with this wealth?” — asked the amazed woman. The merchant laughed, remembering the cat and apples, and said: “No, do what you want.”
The wife built a luxurious house with this money and sent her son to school. Fifteen years have passed. The poor peasant managed to earn only three gold coins during this time. He went home with them. On the way, he had to spend the night with a peasant. There he attended a family holiday. He sees that all the guests at the table are drinking, eating and chatting merrily. And only one person does not eat anything and does not talk to anyone about anything. - Why is this guest silent? - he asked the owner of the house. - Well, absolutely, - says the owner. -Every word he says is worth its weight in gold.
The poor man was amazed and took out one of his gold coins. “Here,” he said, “a gold coin.” Let him say something. The silent man looked at the poor man and said: “Until death comes, you will not die, And do not be afraid of the deep.” The poor man was even more surprised, took out a second coin. “For,” he says, “you have more gold, say, “The best one is the one you love with all your soul,” said the silent man. “Oh, come what may!” says the poor man. - You speak very well. Here’s my last coin for you.” “When you sneeze, wait, think,” says the silent man. And the next morning the poor man, as poor a man as he was, went on. He reached one village and saw a crowd of people near a well. “What are you doing here?” - he asks. “We are in trouble, a terrible trouble,” they say. “We only have water left at the bottom of the well.” And whoever goes down the well for water never comes back. Soon we will all die of thirst. Try, passerby, to get some water. If you get it, we'll give you a gold coin for everything.
The poor man remembered the words of the silent man and said: “I still won’t die before death.” And I'm not afraid of the depths. I’ll climb into the well! He went down into the well, took water from the very bottom, was about to get out, suddenly someone grabbed him by the hem and said: “Come here.” He turned around - and what does he see? At the bottom of the well, human heads are piled up in a heap, and next to it there is a large table, and a raven and a frog are sitting on it.
Raven says: “Well, since you came here, answer my question.” If you don’t answer correctly, I’ll cut off your head.” “Ask,” says the poor man. “Do you see this frog?” Is she worth it for me to marry her? “The best one is the one you love with all your soul,” he answered in the words of that man. As soon as he said this, the raven and the frog began to swell, swell, swell before his eyes. And suddenly their skin burst, and they turned into a beautiful young man and a beautiful girl. “You freed us from witchcraft,” says the young man. “Thank you, and here’s a lot of money as a reward.”
A poor man (and he was no longer a poor man) climbed out of the well, pulled out a jug of water, and the villagers also generously paid him for saving them from death. And the well was immediately filled to the brim with water.
This man reached his village. He sees that on the site of his hut there is a luxurious house, and around there is a lush garden. He looked out the window. He sees his wife talking to some young man. “Oh, so! - he thought. - So she married a rich man without me? Now I’ll show them!” And he pulled out the gun. Just as he was about to shoot, he suddenly sneezed. He remembered the words of the silent man. He stopped and thought. And suddenly he hears the young man say: “Nani-jan, why is there no news from our father?” I miss him so much! And my wife replies: “Ay, bala-jan, and I cried my eyes out for him!” I really want him to come back and see how his son has grown up!
Then the husband opened the doors, ran into the house, and rushed to hug his wife and son. He thanked himself ten times for not sparing his last bit of money for his clever word. This is how happiness came to them, let it come to you too.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru